Bad idea? Donald Trump countersues E. Jean Carroll: In what’s widely seen as a bad legal move, the Donald Trump has sued the woman who accused him of rape, and was found by a jury to have abused and defamed her
What is Donald Trump Doing?
Donald Trump is likely to have a lot of trials in the next couple of years, but he’s already had one, which he lost big.
That was the civil trial earlier this year, in which journalist E. Jean Carroll sued the former president, claiming he had raped her in a New York City department store in the 1990s. The outcome of that trial was that Trump was found liable for having abused and defamed Carroll, but there was no finding that Trump had committed rape. Carroll was awarded $5 million for the two counts.
The case, though, is far from over, as Carroll still has outstanding defamation claims. And after Trump went on CNN for a town hall, the week of the verdict, and ripped Carroll — “I have no idea who this woman – this is a fake story, made up story.” — a judge agreed to amend Carroll’s defamation suit to include those claims.
Now, Trump has countersued Carroll, per CNN. And like Trump’s claims, this involves comments made live on CNN, shortly after the trial.
After the verdict, when Carroll was asked if Trump had raped her, she answered “Oh, yes he did.”
Trump’s attorneys, per Fox News, claim in the suit that Carroll “wantonly and falsely” accused Trump of rape, which “constitute defamation.” They also claim that the “repeated falsehoods and defamatory statements” have “yielded an inordinate amount of damages sustained as a result.”
“Donald Trump again argues, contrary to both logic and fact, that he was exonerated by a jury that found that he sexually abused E. Jean Carroll,” Roberta Kaplan, an attorney for Carroll, told CNN. “Trump’s filing is thus nothing more than his latest effort to delay accountability for what a jury has already found to be his defamation of E. Jean Carroll. But whether he likes it or not, that accountability is coming very soon.”
Others ridiculed Trump for the case and the legal theory behind it.
“I don’t think it’s possible to convey, in 280 characters or even 280,000 characters, just how stupid this is. Good Lord,” lawyer and frequent Trump critic George Conway said on Twitter. He also speculated that the judge in the case could try to impose sanctions.
Legal commentator Lisa Rubin noted on Twitter that Joe Tacopina, who had represented Trump in the trial, is not involved in the new pleading.
The legal blog Above the Law also looked at the pleading.
“If you find yourself drafting a motion where the defense is, “Your Honor, my client is a p***ygrabber, not a rapist,” maybe rethink, Alina,” the blog said.
“Trump also asserted the same affirmative defenses he’s claimed all along: He was doing his job presidenting when he said Carrol was too unattractive to assault,” they added. “Trump’s accusation that she was part of a Democratic hoax was “protected under the doctrine of presidential absolute immunity.” Something something privileges and immunities, ‘including, but not limited to, under the Constitution of the United States.’”
Habba, the current Trump lawyer, went on Newsmax this week, in which she claimed that a series of recent news events, including the submarine disaster, was a “distraction” from the Hunter Biden plea bargain. She also complained about how unfair it was that former Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg received jail time and Hunter Biden did not; Weisselberg had plead guilty to 15 counts, including grand larceny, criminal tax fraud, and falsifying business records.
She also tied in the recent $290 million settlement between J.P. Morgan Chase and victims of Jeffrey Epstein, while falsely claiming that “nobody covered it.” That settlement, in fact, drew widespread media coverage from major outlets, including NBC News, the New York Times, and Reuters.
Expertise and Experience
Stephen Silver is a Senior Editor for 19FortyFive. He is an award-winning journalist, essayist and film critic, who is also a contributor to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Broad Street Review and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. Follow him on Twitter at @StephenSilver.
